Many reconstructive orthopedic surgeries can be performed either as open procedures or as arthroscopic procedures. Rapid recovery from arthroscopic surgical procedures makes them generally more preferred over open surgical procedures. Arthroscopic procedures, however, are difficult to perform in small workspaces, such as within a joint. Typically, an arthroscopic workspace is maintained by the ingress of pressurized fluid into the involved joint to separate the soft tissue from the joint surface. The size of the workspace that can be maintained solely by fluid pressure is restricted by practical limitations, however.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,196 issued Jul. 6, 1999 to Bobic et al. discloses a method and apparatus for repair of articular cartilage, such as in the knee, using osteochondral cores. The procedure can be performed arthroscopically, but as a practical matter open procedures must be used when articular cores larger than about 10 mm in diameter are indicated, due to the practical limitations of maintaining an arthroscopic workspace of sufficient size to accommodate the larger cores and associated harvesting instruments.